


Comforts

by ConfessionForAnotherTime



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, F/M, First Dates, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 14:25:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5294603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfessionForAnotherTime/pseuds/ConfessionForAnotherTime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wash finds Grey comfortable and that comfort is needed with the war going on around them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comforts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flawlix (lolex)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=flawlix+%28lolex%29).



Wash sat in his bunk. Staring at his hands, noticing how they continued to shake a little even when he hadn’t done anything for a while, he realized he needed a break. However…  _This is a military mission. We don't get a vacation. We don't take sick days; we don't get paid overtime._ His own words rang in his head. He wanted to just lay down and sleep for a week. The constant day to day was wearing thin on him and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep it up.

Wash propped his head up with his hand, looking looking out over the training ground where he had asked Caboose to run laps with the Lieutenants. Donut and Lopez were running the armory on this shift, making sure everyone got needed ammo and weapons. That accounted for some of the people at the base, but not everyone. Downtime was hard to come by. He sighed. Downtime was near impossible now. At least Grey and the others had come back from the scouting trip to the temple. One less thing to worry about. He could hear footsteps outside his open door, someone moving through the halls of the barracks, stopping outside his room. He didn’t need to look up to know it was Carolina.     

“Can I talk to you?” Carolina motioned for him to follow her. Wash got up from his desk, cocking his head in confusion. A few steps away from his door, he voiced his question.

“Carolina? Where are we going?” Wash caught up so that he was standing next to her as she kept going, waiting for his response.

“I’ve just noticed you’ve been stressed. I know that since we got on this planet there haven’t been as many prospects as you had in the project--”

“Carolina, I would hardly call dating one person once,” Wash started, holding his finger up.

“That I know of,” she repeated.

“I don’t think that’s reason for me to want or need to date someone here. Everyone, well nearly, is far younger than the both of us and it would be easier to date you than the rest of them in terms of age difference. I don’t even know what I’m talking about.” Wash shrugged, turning away from Carolina who had just started to laugh at him. “See, this is why I don’t tell you things. You always find a way to make me the joke in it.”

Carolina’s laughs softened and she shook her head. “See, that’s not even what I’m talking about. You should be looking for someone around here, regardless of age. You aren’t even that old comparably. I mean really, if you look around, most of the people here aren’t that much younger. Ten years.” Carolina gestured into the direction where Doctor Grey was scanning a patient. “Ten years younger at most.”

Wash glanced over just in time to see the white Fed soldier, carrying around his turret like he owned the place. Wash imagined what those arms looked like under the armor and blushed a little. “Yeah… well, I’m not sure if that’s really the type of person I would go for. Maybe to look at but ya know, to date on the long term?”

Carolina just stared at him. “Why not? Don’t you go for the type that’s perky and kind and knows just what to say at just the right time to cheer you up? Not only that, you wouldn’t have to worry about knowing how to get around here because she knows her way around the planet. You should go talk to her really.”

“She? Oh. I assumed with the armor, and the title that… oh nevermind. I guess I can go talk to her. Do you know her name or anything or should I just introduce myself?” Wash was at a loss and scratched the back of his head.

“Just go talk to her. Ask her how her day had been. Something.” Carolina nudged him. “Come one. When was the last time you can say you went on a date or even talked to someone that wasn’t me or someone you were ordering around?”

“Fair enough. Fine. But if this sucks, you owe me a drink of… something.” Wash got up from his spot on the crate, going over to the Fed turret soldier and sliding up next to him. The small red visor made it hard to tell if he should be looking there. How did they see out of those things?

“So,” Wash started, rocking on his heels. “What’s a sweet gal like you do for fun around on this base? Want to catch a meal sometime?” He wished he had his helmet off so that he could flash a grin at her before the shocking realization that he was hitting on the wrong person came crashing down on him.

“Pardon?” Randy asked. “I think you might be mistaken.”

Wash stood there dumbfounded. This was who Carolina had pointed to right? This was who she meant? “Well, my friend was saying I should go chat with you. Maybe catch something to eat?”

Randy shook his head. “Yeah, you got the wrong guy. I’m already with someone and well, yeah, I have some turrets to look after.” He walked off and Wash stared at Carolina in confusion. He shrugged visibly back at her and saw she had doubled over in laughter. As he headed back to where she was sitting, he could hear her laughing through her helmet even without the radio on.

“Oh my god Wash, no not Randy! He’s the turret guy. I was pointing to Doctor Grey, who admittedly, was behind him at the time that I pointed but oh my god, I love that you did that.” She leaned down, almost to the point of choking as she laughed.

Wash just stared at her. “I hate you.” Carolina kept laughing.

“I know you do, bro. I can’t believe you thought I meant him. I don’t even think he’s your type. Don’t you like shorter guys? He’s almost a head taller than you.” She wiped the tears away from her eyes, trying to get herself under control.

“Actually, you’re remembering that in reverse. I like taller guys. You must have forgotten about the fact that I had a thing for Maine, but I let it go because there were more important things to deal with at the time.” Wash blew his bangs out of his face, looking away as he blushed at her still laughing at his misunderstanding.

“Is that really what happened there, Wash? Was it? Or was it because I was dating him.” Her grin grew wider and she nodded over at Grey. “Look, her patient just left. You have plenty of time to go chat with her unless you want to go flirt with Sarge again on your way since he just walked by too. Are silver foxes your thing too?” Carolina winked.

Wash sighed, resigning himself. “You are completely hopeless. At least you’re with Kimball. I don’t know what I would do if I had to scare away another guy since you have terrible taste in men, just like mom.”

“Mom would agree. Stop stalling and go talk to her. Epsilon and I will watch from over here with our theoretical popcorn.” Carolina waved him off. “And don’t screw it up this time!”

Wash made his way across the square to Grey, walking up and waving to her awkwardly.

“Hey, Grey… Emily. Emily? Dr. Grey.” Wash couldn’t stick to a name since he couldn’t decide on how formal he wanted to be with this. “So, I was wondering what you were doing later?”

Grey looked up from her notebook after cataloguing her check on her latest patient who had been discharged the day before. “Sewing on limbs, checking out rocks, playing with alien weaponry. You know, the usual. Why? Do you have something _interesting_ for me?” He could hear the grin in the way she spoke and he swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Me? No. I don’t have anything interesting. Nothing at all,” Wash squeaked, kicking a rock by his foot. He turned around to look at Carolina for help, but she just signaled to him to get the foot out of his ass and ask her out. How they had a signal for that, no one knew, but Wash turned back around, resigned to finally do it.

“Do you want to go out later?” he asked quickly, looking around at anything but her.

“Out? Where would we go? There aren’t any civilians left here and well, I suppose we could go raid some of the abandoned shops. Oh! It could be an adventure to find supplies… or was that not what you had in mind?” Grey had bounced excitedly for a moment until she came to the conclusion that not everyone found the idea of scavenging for supplies to be ‘date material.’

“That… could work. When do you want to go?” Wash sighed. It was something.

“We can go right now! Let me pack some storage crates and we’ll head to the other end of Armonia. Meet me at the motorpool!” She got up and ran off to her office.

“Well, this is romantic.”

Carolina and Epsilon could be heard laughing in the distance.

\---

“I think we’re lost.” Grey stopped the warthog, looking around at the abandoned buildings. “I always get lost when I drive. This is why you should have driven.”

“I _can’t_ drive though. Cars hate me. Or something. Look, it’s better that we be lost than exploded or run over or flying off that cliff in the distance.” Wash hopped out of the warthog, looking around and determining they had made it to one of the restaurant districts. “Hey, this might not be a bust after all, look, this used to be an ice cream shop.”

“Wash, I don’t think there’s going to be any iced cream in that shop. Power doesn’t work out here. You know that.” Grey grabbed a small bag from the back, following after him.

“Well, no, but at very least, they might have sprinkles or malt or something else that could be useful back on base.” Wash shoved open the dusty door and pushed his way inside. The place was deserted, as expected, and not desserted, much to his dismay.

“What would we need sprinkles for?” Grey grabbed the container anyway.

“I don’t know, use it to barter with Grif or something. Might make Caboose happy too.”

The two of them searched the shop and found several containers of malted milk as well as evaporated milk that they could take back to base. As the two of them headed for the back, they found a side room.

“It’s locked,” Grey stated, testing the door. Wash reached for his pistol to shoot the knob, then stopped. He ran his hand over the top of the doorjam, finding the key that locked it.

“Jackpot. Let’s see what’s in here.” He turned the key and opened the door, the two of them looking inside, staring in wonder. Candy. All kinds of candy lined the walls. Import candy from other star systems. Local things that Wash had never seen before. There were jars and bags and the entire room was full of it. Wash turned to Grey.

“No one must know,” he whispered, pulling her close. “No one can know of this beautiful stash.”

Grey stared at him. She blinked. An ugly snort erupted from her throat, followed by a throaty laugh.

“What?” Wash asked, dismayed. Grey kept laughing, entering the room and grabbing a few jars of candy to take back with them. “No what are you doing? This is for us. Don’t take it back to them.”

Grey shook her head. “I’m not taking it back for them… I’m taking it back for _us_.” She cocked her hips to punctuate the sentence and bent over to grab some of the lower jars of M &Ms. “If I had known you had such a sweet tooth, I would have offered myself sooner. With all this candy, you’ll find I too am as sweet as pie.”

Wash stood there wide-eyed. “I thought I was the one trying to seduce you.”

Grey shrugged. “Either way!” She giggled and went back to filling the pack, handing it off to him to carry out before grabbing another bag. She dug out one of the pieces of candy from the jar, still airtight from where it had been sealed years before. She unclasped the seals on his helmet after taking off her own, popping the malt ball into his mouth. Wash did his best not to lick her finger as she fed him and failed, blushing a bit at the intimate gesture. She grinned wider at him. “Just think, we’re taking back this stock pile of candy, with no intent of sharing it with anyone, and it’s all ours.”

After the two of them loaded up their bags, securely packing them away in the storage containers that would hide their pilfered goods, Wash locked the door to the candy room in the ice cream shop. He had his helmet tucked under his arm, as she did with hers, and he grinned.

“This was a lot of fun, ya know? I didn’t think that you would be open to a date, but this was nice.” Wash couldn’t help being awkward, but it would have been the same if it was anyone else. It was written into his genes. If his sister had their mother’s awful taste in men, he had inherited his father’s awkwardness in any kind of social situation. Grey smiled.

“You know there’s still more we can do when we get back,” she said with a purr.

“More?” Wash squeaked.

\---

The two of them made it back to base relatively quickly, despite thinking they were lost. Grey had taken a wrong turn going back and they found themselves on the road back to base quicker than they thought. Wash and Grey snuck in their spoils, taking them to hide in her room, considering how much harder it was to break the lock on the door to her bunk than it was on his. He hadn’t found a way to keep Carolina out yet and waking up to her pranks with Grey in the room was not a situation he felt like taking part in. As they settled in, Grey started stripping out of her armor without warning, and Wash turned around quickly to keep from seeing anything without permission. She turned to him, snickering slightly when she saw he had turned away.

“Such a gentleman. You know, not many would have done that.” She turned to sit on the bed, pulling off her prosthesis from her right leg to get more comfortable. She scooted herself back on the bed, patting the spot next to her once she had secured one of the jars of candy. Wash stared at her.

“What?” she asked, opening the jar and pulling out one of the pieces of licorice that somehow managed to be mostly fresh.

“Your leg…”

“Oh. That. Cut it off for science. Strip down, put some sweats on and join me, you silly goose.” She grinned through her candy, chewing another bite and waiting for him to listen.

“I.. okay,” he choked out, pulling off the pieces of armor after turning away from her. _What a great day to ensure I was wearing something under my bodysuit._ He grabbed the pair of sweats that she had on the other side of the room, surprised they fit and pulled on a shirt, frowning when it didn’t cover all of his belly.

“Ha! Looks like I grabbed the right sweats but you got my shirt. I would say don’t stretch it out but it’s a little late for that.” She giggled a bit, eyeing how it covered him, and also how it didn’t, licking her lips. “Though, if it’s uncomfortable to wear it like that, you could just take it off.”

“I.. You know, I think I’m okay with it on. Yes. It will stay on.” What the hell had his big sister gotten him into?

“You sure? You don’t want to get more comfortable and feed me candy?” she purred, leaning against him.

Wash froze for a second. On one hand, she was really cute. On the other, she was really cute and he had no expectations and so far she was making it seem like she had some.

“Grey, I… I know I was the one to ask you out to steal candy in the wasteland of your planet. I just hadn’t planned on being half naked on your bed, eating said candy with you giving me eyes like I’m the next piece you want to eat. Oh my god I am phrasing this horribly.” Wash sighed as she started to giggle again, and she laid back on the bed, balancing the jar of licorice on her belly.

Wash pulled off the shirt and threw it over onto the floor and laid next to her. He reached over and grabbed a few of the red licorice straws, chewing on them and delighting in their flavor. The two of them laid there and ate candy, just enjoying the presence of the other.

“Wash?” Grey asked, grabbing another bite. The jar had become noticeably empty, they had about half of it left at this point.

“Yeah?” he responded, reaching over to grab more and catching her hand instead. He pulled away quickly, not going for another piece of candy until he knew that she was finished grabbing some.

“Why have you been so awkward? It’s not like you just met me today.” She smiled over at him and he just stared up at the ceiling.

“I don’t know. I think it’s because before, there wasn’t the expectation behind it. Before I could just sit there and talk with you and now, I know Carolina will be asking a whole number of questions when I see her tomorrow. Did you have fun? Did you hold her hand? Did you kiss her? Is she a good kisser? You know, those things that siblings ask each other when they go out on a date with someone new.” Wash hadn’t noticed that her hand had found his, squeezing it in reassurance.

“Wash, I had two brothers and a sister. I never got asked those questions. I think Carolina is just nosey. Do you know if Kimball kicked her out onto the couch or something?” Grey subtly laced their fingers together. “Besides, it’s less awkward when I tell you that I asked her to have you come talk to me because I didn’t know how to go about making that first move without reacting to it… So really.” Grey leaned forward to kiss his cheek after pulling on his hip to make him lay on his side to face her. “Thank you for listening to your nosey sister and coming to say hi.”

Wash laid there, awestruck. “You organized this?”

Grey nodded in response. “I did.”

“Why couldn’t you ask me yourself?” Wash asked. Grey shrugged and blushed a bit, unable to come up with a better answer.

“I don’t know. I guess I figured someone else had caught your attention or I was too _weird_ in your book to be worthy of your attention. Also, you get to be in charge of training. I’m a doctor. Our paths don’t really cross that much unless one of your people gets hurt.” She tried to make it make sense, but she was backing herself into a corner.

“So you didn’t know how to talk to me?” he asked and she shook her head in response. “Well, I have something to say.” Grey looked up at him, surprised when his lips touched hers, kissing her softly. A warmth spread through her that she hadn’t felt since before the war broke out, making her happier than she had been in a while. She bit her lip when they pulled away.

“That was quite a bit that you had to say right there,” she said, blushing and looking away again.

“By all means, let me repeat myself then.” Wash tilted her head up to face him, pulling her close to kiss her again, running his tongue over her lip. She made him feel more alive and her hands in his hair pulling him closer didn’t hurt either. When they parted again, he didn’t let go, the two of them falling asleep that way, with their candy spoils strewn about the bed.

\---

Wash woke up first, untangling himself from her cuteness to go get them breakfast from the mess hall before Grif managed to wake up. As he pulled on her shirt and left her room, he ran into Tucker, who just laughed at the “Chorus Archeology: We dig deep” scrawled across the front of the shirt that Wash hadn’t noticed the night before.

“Haha dude where did you get that shirt? Does it even fit? Is it even _yours?”_ Tucker laughed, spinning him around and laughing even louder once he saw the back. “Do… do you know it says ‘ask me about my bone’ on the back of it? Please tell me you knew that?”

The blush that slowly covered Wash started at his head and traveled all the way down to the purple flip flops he had borrowed from her room on his way to the mess hall.

“Yes. Yes. Would you like to know about my bone, Tucker?” Wash asked stiffly.

“Nope. I’m good. I have a Palomo to yell at for being far too perky at six in the morning. Have fun banging the doctor!”

Wash made his way quickly to the mess hall grabbing enough food for the both of them and quickly scrambling back to her room before anyone else could see him. He locked the door behind him and let out a sigh of relief, bringing food to the lovely lady in front of him.

Tucker rounded the corner and groaned in Carolina’s face once he got to the training room.

“See, you set it up and he took it. I owe you twenty.”

Carolina pumped her fist in triumph. “See, I know my little brother. Sometimes he just needs a little push and some comfort.”

“You’re just mad and you wanted someone to take it out on after you got kicked out of bed for being nosey.”

“You shut your mouth.”

 


End file.
